by our College Data Analytics TeamNorthwest College of Art & Design is a private for-profit institution in Tacoma, Washington enrolling 139 undergraduates. It accepts 66% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 58%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #4,568 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 89%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Northwest College of Art & Design ranks #4,568 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 89%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
College Factual ranked NCAD as #4,568 out of 5,159 colleges and universities in the country on its 2027 Best Colleges list.
NCAD is also ranked #85 on the Best Colleges in Washington list.
See all of the rankings for Northwest College of Art & Design.
Northwest College of Art & Design has an acceptance rate of 66%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for NCAD.
Learn more about Northwest College of Art & Design admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Northwest College of Art & Design is 34 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 15 to 1. This may indicate that some of your classes will be larger in size than they would be at other schools. However, upper level classes will probably be smaller.
Northwest College of Art & Design has a freshmen retention rate of 77%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at NCAD for first-time, full-time students is 58%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Northwest College of Art & Design.
During the most recent academic year, there were 139 undergraduates at NCAD.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Northwest College of Art & Design.
The average net price of NCAD is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $12,977 | $11,857 | $17,146 | $24,031 | $29,101 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of NCAD, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At NCAD, approximately 48% of students took out student loans averaging $6,760 a year. That adds up to $27,040 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 18.1%. This is significantly higher than the national default rate of 10.1%, which means you could have trouble paying back your student loans if you take any out. Get more details about paying for Northwest College of Art & Design.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Northwest College of Art & Design make around $31,167 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 37% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
See which majors at Northwest College of Art & Design make the most money.
Northwest College of Art & Design is an private for-profit institution situated in Tacoma, Washington. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Northwest College of Art & Design.
Get in touch with Northwest College of Art & Design can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1126 Pacific Avenue, Suite 101, Tacoma, WA 98402 |
| Phone: | 2532721126 |
| Website: | www.ncad.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/NorthwestCollegeOfArtAndDesign |
In the most recent reporting year, students from 2 majors graduated from Northwest College of Art & Design. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Design & Applied Arts | 26 | $23,385 |
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 26 | NA |
Want to see how other colleges compare to NCAD? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.